KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Bobby Pierce led all but two laps of the Friday preliminary feature at Knoxville Raceway.
He captured the 25-lap $7,000-to-win main event for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series during night two of the 20th Annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals presented by Your Life Iowa.
Pierce reclaimed the lead in the race on lap 18 after Max Blair, who had just taken the top spot on lap 17, slipped up in turn two.
This allowed Pierce to regain the lead for good, as he led the last eight laps to secure his 33rd feature win of 2024.
Brandon Sheppard advanced from ninth to claim second place, overtaking Blair on lap 18. Blair finished third, followed by Devin Moran and Daulton Wilson.
Wilson led the opening lap from his pole starting position, but by the second lap, Pierce, who had started alongside Wilson on the front row, had taken over the lead.
Pierce then pulled out to what appeared to be a healthy lead until he started to pick up the tail end of the field which allowed Blair and Sheppard to gain considerable ground on him.
Blair made a power move to take over the lead from Pierce on lap 18, but he couldn’t hold his line on the bottom coming off turn number two. Pierce was able to slip back by him and regain the lead for good in the caution-free race.
“I was a little tight even on the top; the car was laid over a little bit so I really couldn’t get around there quite like I wanted to, but I can’t thank my guys enough for all their hard work and their support and all of these fans for coming out and watching us,” Pierce said. “We wanted to play that invert all night after yesterday. My one goal was to start up front and not row four. We got lucky with the qualifying and the heat race, too. What an awesome night for us.”
Sheppard, who started on the inside of row five, came up just 0.390 seconds behind Pierce.
“I think I had a shot [at the win] there for a bit. We had a really good car, it was very maneuverable, it was a lot better than yesterday,” Sheppard said. “I couldn’t even make it around the track yesterday, but the guys went to work today and gave me a pretty good piece. I am happy with our turnaround. I think we have a good feature car for tomorrow night. It could drive straight through the corner, and I could put in anywhere I wanted to, so we are looking forward to tomorrow.”
Blair, who had come from seventh to grab the lead momentarily, was disappointed he could not hold the top spot as he was seeking his first win at Knoxville.
“I just screwed up, man. I cleared him [Pierce], and I was like, man, I just won this race. But I drove into one a little easier than I should have, and I got tight, and I pushed. I gave that one away. I think we had a car definitely capable of winning the race and you don’t get too many opportunities like that at a place like this. We finally put a whole night together. We qualified well, and we were really good at the feature.”
The finish:
Feature (25 laps): 1. Bobby Pierce (2); 2. Brandon Sheppard (9); 3. Max Blair (7); 4. Devin Moran (3); 5. Daulton Wilson (1); 6. Daniel Hilsabeck (4); 7. Jonathan Davenport (5); 8. Garrett Smith (6); 9. Hudson O’Neal (11); 10. Garrett Alberson (8); 11. Brian Shirley (14); 12. Ross Robinson (10); 13. Chase Junghans (15); 14. Mike Marlar (13); 15. Tim McCreadie (16); 16. Carson Ferguson (12); 17. Drake Troutman (20); 18. Ricky Thornton Jr. (22); 19. Chad Simpson (19); 20. Chris Simpson (18); 21. Justin Zeitner (21); 22. Brenden Smith (17); 23. Matt Furman (23); 24. Dillon McGowen (24).